


Together We're Invincible

by theghostfromcydonia (littleyounggun)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, X-Ray & Vav (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - X-Ray & Vav, M/M, Mind Control, Mogar, Mogar in X-Ray and Vav
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 15:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4227243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleyounggun/pseuds/theghostfromcydonia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the face of Mad King Ryan's threats and headlines bigger than his confidence, Vav struggles to hold on to his role in the city. Mogar fights for what he wants more than anything. (And in the background X-Ray makes an unlikely friend.)</p>
<p>Written for the Mogar in X-Ray and Vav AU on Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together We're Invincible

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to littleconan on tumblr for this super fun AU to play in. Let me tell you about how late we stayed up talking about this, okay? This is all based on his comics and posts about Mogar in the X-Ray and Vav universe! Check them out :D  
> (This is the only way I know how to link stuff.)
> 
> http://littleconan.tumblr.com/tagged/Mogar-in-Xray-and-Vav

The city needs them.

Sometimes, X-Ray will rant and rave about how the city doesn’t _deserve_ them. It’s hard to argue his point when constantly bombarded with headlines like, “SUPER HEROES OR SUPER MORONS?” or “FROM ZERO TO… ZEROES?” or even “IT’S A BIRD! A PLANE! IT’S TWO GUYS DESTROYING THE CITY?” It felt like the media was perpetually confused by the duo, all their ink used up by bold titles and question marks, when Vav thought their motivation was pretty clear.

They just want to help.

Vav told X-Ray from the beginning that they weren’t in this for the headlines or the key to the city, and he stands by his notion! It raises their morale, he thinks, to remind X-Ray and himself that they’re doing this for the sake of justice and not glory.

Even if it would be additionally nice to be appreciated… well…

The city _needs_ them.

“Vav, watch out!”

Vav drops to his knees, shielding his head with his arms, feeling the blistering heat of X-Ray’s beam fly right over him. As per usual, it misses its mark, and Vav squawks as the window display of a store shatters completely. It was closed, thankfully, no one inside to get injured; though the destruction of property wouldn’t help their reputation. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

He scrambles to take his place by his friend, both of them nodding and falling into their fighting stances. X-Ray with a scowl in place and brows furrowed, hand at his glasses and ready to blast radioactive justice at troublemakers. Vav with a determined expression, eyes calculating and hands outstretchedto slow mo their way out of trouble.

Because they had a real knack for finding it.

Trouble came today in the form of a woman staggering around the debris born from X-Ray’s enthusiasm. Dull teeth are bared at them with wolfish ferocity. Fingers are curled and hands are raised threateningly. If Vav didn’t know better, he would have written her behavior off as everyday lunacy.

But her ruby red eyes tell him what he needs to know. The animalistic gleam, it’s hard to miss and hard to forget.  Vav saw it in the woman sent to attack Rusty and the man sent to attack Hilda.  And he could heartbreakingly recognize it in the eyes of- someone he cares about.

“Why the hell is he so angry?” X-Ray had hissed while standing around Hilda’s apartment. It had been demolished in the face of their battle against the Mad King’s lackey, furniture turned over, her belongings on the ground, others broken irreparably.  X-Ray kicked over a couch cushion in his frustration. “We weren’t even going to meddle in his evil plans or nothing. He’s the one that took Orf – and then Michael! - and started this entire mess to begin with!”

The reminder sent an upsetting pang through his heart, and Vav tried hard not to cringe at it. He resolutely ignored the briefly guilty look X-Ray shot him, still hurt but unwilling to dwell on it.

“He’s not getting mad,” Rusty corrected from where he leaned against a wall, taking a swig of his bottle. “He’s getting even.”

“The only reason he wouldn’t be getting mad is because he was already the Mad King. The mad part kind of came with the territory. Only now it’s getting _personal_.”

There was no disputing X-Ray’s point, as he was slowly coming to realize was often the case.

“Miss Hilda,” Vav called, chewing on his lip and helping out by setting a lamp back on its table, righting its shade. “You said he was running trials?”

Glass clinked as Hilda carefully swept it onto a dustpan. “It’s the only thing that makes sense, given what we know. He already knows that combining Michael with a bear creates an angrier, scarier, brain-washed Mogar. It seems like now he’s experimenting with other people and other animals. Remember the mugger who wasn’t a mugger? The lady who kept lunging with her knife and hissing, but would hold her ground? Seemed pretty snake-like.  And this guy.” Her expression went sour, dreading to think why the monarch would need an army of animal-people hybrids. “Did you see the way he’d wind up his foot? And then he just charged at us.”

“Tell me about it.” Vav had never regretted wearing red more than he did when the bull-man was charging at him. The wall was now adorned with a man-sized dent.

Hilda sent him an apologetic look, then adjusted her glasses. “I think he’s experimenting and testing the results on the field. With us.”

X-Ray shuddered. “More like mad fuckin’ scientist, am I right?”

“Something is different with them, though.” Hilda shook her head, resting her chin on the broom handle. “They’re not as- advanced, as Michael. Their bodies are completely human, even though their minds are clearly not. And _that_ I can’t figure out why without more information.”

Rusty pursed his lips. “Still don’t see why we shouldn’t try the tinfoil hats. Tried and true, it worked last time.”

“Again, this is different. It’s deeper. More like it’s written in their blood…”

Now facing the third unfortunate soul sent by the Mad King, Vav can see what Hilda was referring to.

The bizarre behavior isn’t random. Although her body doesn’t match it, her mind is that of a predator. Growls try to fill the air, weak and awkward from a human form, and she starts to move in a way that Vav can only describe as prowling.

“X-Ray,” he whispers. “This is exactly like the other times.”

“You mean the ones where they beat the crap out of us until they eventually ran away!?”

“Fair enough. But third time is the charm! I’ve got a plan.”

“Spit it out ‘cause it looks like it’s about to get weird!”

 “Wha-?” When Vav looks at their opponent again, she’s tilting her head to the sky and letting a long howl rip from her throat. Dogs all over the city start barking madly, and goosebumps rise over Vav’s skin. X-Ray repeats “oh no” under his breath.

One dog, a German shepherd, comes tearing down the street behind the woman, barking and flashing its canines. To the absolute bafflement of X-Ray and Vav, as the dog nears, the woman widens her stance, stares down the dog, and _yells_ at the top of her lungs.

“What on Earth!?” Vav squawks at the same time X-Ray shouts, “Maybe we should just make a break for it!”

The dog whimpers and hunches into itself, tail between its legs, humbled. The woman stops, panting for breath.

X-Ray turns to Vav desperately. “The plan!?”

“We need a whistle and-“

Grinning, the woman points to X-Ray.

They freeze. The man in question raises his hands defensively, taking one step back. “Uh, g-good puppy.”

They break at the same time, X-Ray hightailing it down the street with the German shepherd snapping at his heels. “Racist dog and dog-owner go for Hispanic, aaaAAHHHH!”

“X-Ray, wait!” Vav throws his hand out, intending to slow down the dog, but instead gets grabbed and swung around with a bruising grip. Vav crows and flounders for balance, trying to aim his palm at the woman, but she shoves his hands away and hops onto his back, snarling right into his ear. Terror goes through him at the first sensation of teeth on his neck. Panic blankets his mind, and he throws his weight around, trying to throw her off.

He shoves her face and pulls her hair, but she clings to him insistently, and shudders wrack through him at the feeling of saliva on his skin. Running backwards, they hit a wall roughly, breath wheezing, but she holds him tighter, and Vav stumbles to the side.

He doesn’t realize there is no wall to run into until they’re both falling through the window that had shattered earlier. Vav lands with his full weight on the woman, and she whines pitifully as the glass digs into her skin. He quickly rolls away from her, shouting apologies and swiping at his neck and feeling fully relieved to find no blood or punctures.

His attention is stolen by the tell-tale sound of X-Ray screaming in the distance and beams firing onto the street, destruction multiplying quickly. Bewildered noises fall out of Vav’s mouth until one fires too close to him and forces him to jump back, gaping at the now scorched floor.

The woman has regained her feet by now, and she’s more pissed off than before, salivating and dripping blood. Vav struggles with facing her or running to his friend who is in obvious need of help. The choice is made for him.

A roar erupts in the air, inhuman but heart-achingly familiar. Michael, in all his masked glory and clad in browns and blues and yellows, leaps out of the shadows and rushes the woman. She has barely enough time to register what is happening before they’re grappling messily, teeth against fangs, fingers against claws.

All of Vav’s joints freeze in place, mind locked in a battle with his own emotions, everything he didn’t want to face now forcefully pulled out of him. Relief, anger, hurt, maybe he feels a little sick, all of it thudding with an ache in his throat. The ferocity between the two fighters only makes it worse, and he realizes there is less Michael and more Mogar driving behind those brightly shining eyes.

He doesn’t necessarily want this woman to get hurt – she’s a victim in all of this too, isn’t she? Maybe he’ll never know how the Mad King chooses candidates for his horrifying experiments, but he does know that Michael… didn’t volunteer. And if the woman suffered a similar fate? It becomes Vav’s duty to intervene, as a superhero and protector of citizens. Because a raging Mogar won’t stop to think about it. Sometimes, a raging Mogar isn’t _capable_ of stopping to think for himself.

Vav has… experience with a Mogar like that. His chest burns with the thought of it.

He doesn’t get more than a few steps closer before Mogar is shoving the woman out of the building and into the middle of the street, Vav protesting loudly. Her feet wobble dangerously before one of X-Ray’s stray beams grazes close enough to make her spin with the force of it. She falls to the ground, curling around her injured side.

Vav moves to run to her, unsure of what he’ll do when he reaches her, but a grip on his wrist pulls him back, and suddenly he’s sick of people who aren’t in control of their selves yanking him around like he’s a ragdoll. It’s anger that prevails over all other emotions, sends heat into his eyes and his heart thumping. He viciously rips his hand away and turns to Mogar, loudly exclaiming, “Are you having a laugh!?”

The shock is clear even through the mask, but Mogar wipes it off to replace it with anger of his own. “Stay back. I can handle her.”

“Well, maybe I can handle her better!”

“I’m trying to help you.”

“Remind me- where were you when she chased X-Ray down with a dog? And when she decided she fancied a piggy-back ride?”

“I was giving you space! Like you asked me to?” Hesitation creeps into his voice, and it’s almost like Vav can see Michael bleeding back into Mogar. But then he continues talking. “It was also two against one. Didn’t think you two would get your asses handed to--”

“Forget it.” Vav tries to walk away only for his hand to be seized again, gentler. He doesn’t yank away this time, anger fizzling out steadily because keeping it amped up is not his domain. He doesn’t _want_ to be upset, not even with this big, dumb, idiot bear of a man. There is just so much tension making it difficult to relax. Gentle tugging encourages him to come back to Michael, and Vav allows it, albeit wearily.

Michael tries to school his expression into neutrality, trying to reign in his frustration. It simmers under his skin with adrenaline-induced heat, but Vav’s hand is warm in both of his, a grounding point to keep himself in check. His anchor. “Okay. I’m sorry. Just let me help you. Please.”

“I can do this on my own,” Vav retorts stubbornly, not so easily appeased.

“I know that! I just want to help.”

Vav breaks, incensed, pushing Michael away. “You keep saying that, but why should I let you? How do I know you won’t sell out if she offers a better price, huh?!”

It feels good to say, like fulfilling righteous indignation, the last fear that had been eating away at his confidence, his security. It’s finally out, but the freedom only lasts for half a second because the shattered look on Michael’s face immediately makes him want to eat his words, to pretend this never happened. Vav has crossed a line. This is never what he wanted, but he’s completely wordless, helpless in the face of his own stupidity and rash anger.  Michael visibly pulls himself back together, square shoulders, pinched expression, and rips his mask off as he shoulders past Vav.

“Because I fucking love you, moron.”

The mask drops to the floor with a note of finality, landing right by Vav’s feet. Quiet shock fills him until he numbly steps away from it, watching Mogar march into the street.

The beams are no longer firing – a mildly alarming fact that Vav needs to check on soon. Nonetheless, they’d hit a target accidentally, the woman only now conveniently coming back to her feet.

“Hey!” Mogar barks. His posture screams ‘ _fight me, motherfucker, make my day’_ , and the scowl he aims at the woman is nothing less than antagonizing. She seems ready to rise to the occasion, wound all but forgotten, if anything inciting her further, a predator being backed into a tight corner-- when she looks at Mogar properly, bare-faced. Her back goes ramrod straight and her eyes brighten, red and alert. Vav knows that look, knows what will happen next.

The woman turns and flees faster than she came, leaving a concerned Vav and a confused and mildly disappointed Mogar. The street is empty and quiet, the barking dogs having fallen silent with the woman’s departure. It’s just them and the smoldering remains of their battle.

Glass crunches under Vav’s feet as he steps into the space beside Michael.

“See, boi,” Michael says with forced playfulness, rage swiftly and suddenly gone. He feels robbed- of many things, really. “It pays to have a reputation. I didn’t have to lift a finger.”

Vav doesn’t mention that they seem to make a habit out of that, fleeing before it got too hot. What’s done was done, and now it was time to face the music.

“Michael Jones, bloody hell, is there anything else you’ve been keeping from me?”

Michael cringes at the voice of absolute defeat that comes from Vav, but tries to play it off. “Well, to be fair, I was expecting a much more badass fight in which I would end up covered in blood, and I’d look like a hero and you would be like ‘Oh, Micool’ in that ridiculous accent you have because it would finally be clear how much-- I care. About… you.”

Again Vav is struck dumb as is often the case when it comes to Michael, though not usually for such upsetting reasons. He watches him sadly, uncertain and afraid and tired of feeling such a way when it came to the two of them. It’s too much. He rubs his arm quietly, feeling strangely displaced, trying to collect his thoughts.

Michael vows to himself to never put that hurt expression on Vav ever again. It strikes him in the center of his chest, and he’s determined to fix it.

With a hand motion that says ‘wait one minute’, he darts back into the building where he’d left his backpack for safe-keeping and retrieves a slim, rectangular box wrapped in words. When he returns, he holds it out for Vav to take. “I, uh, have something for you.”

It’s light in Vav’s hold, and he hesitates to open it until big, bold letters on the wrapping catch his eye.

‘ **SUPERHERO TURNS THIEF – STEALS MAN’S HEART** ’

A headline. And beneath it, an actual article, complete with a candid photograph of him and Michael in the center. Printed on computer paper and clearly homemade, but still getting the idea across. Bewildered, Vav looks up to see a slowly flushing Michael. “This is… You made a tiny newspaper?”

“Well, yeah. I know you like to act like you’re tough shit, but I also know that they get to you more than you care to admit. Those reporters are talking out of their asses, they don’t know shit about you.” Vav studies him, and a flustered Michael snaps, “You gonna stare at me or you gonna read it?”

Slowly grinning, Vav does.

                _According to reports by the Police Department, the heart of Michael Jones (also known as ‘Mogar’) has been foolishly and fantastically taken by one superhero of the name ‘Vav’. Witness accounts vary from claims of “It’s witchcraft and sorcery” to “I’m not even surprised.” One other says,  “The fools fell head over heels the moment they laid eyes on each other. Took them long enough to realize it.” But none other is more overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events than Jones himself._

_Reporters ask exactly how this came to be. Jones’ answer shocks all who hear it. “Well,” Jones says, “It wasn’t easy at first. We weren’t always on the same side, you know? It’s hard to fall in love with the enemy. But… he made me want to, maybe, not be the bad one. I wanted to be on his side. He made me want to be good. Because he himself believes in the good of people so deeply. His heart is like a precious diamond. He’s strong, a fighter, but doesn’t let himself forget that there is justice in the world. You just can’t bring the guy down._

_Eventually, it grew from respect to… well, I don’t_ just _want to be on his side. I want to be_ by _his side in any way he lets me.”_

_With such a vital organ compromised, Jones has been more prone to making idiotic decisions – in the process harming the one he cares for most: the one in possession of his heart._

_When asked how things spiraled so out of control, Jones replied, “I fucked up. I was so worried about how he’d react if ever found out about the things I’d done for money, the people I’d worked with, that I kept a huge secret from him. A huge part of who I was. I was a coward, and I understand that now. And I’m so fucking sorry. I just hope he forgives me and maybe tries to understand. I want to be different for him, because of him. I want to do things right this time. I want to be on his side, by his side, if he lets me. I’m so sorry, Vav. I need one more chance to not be a screw-up. Just one.”_

“Michael…” Vav runs his fingers over the text. “Did you write this?”

“What, you don’t think I could?” At Vav’s searching look, he scuffs the ground with the toe of his shoe. “Ok, maybe I had some help with the writing. But the sentiment- it’s all, y’know, mine. You still need to open it, by the way.”

“Well, it’s just...lovely, so lovely.” Pulling very carefully at the tape so as to not rip the faux-newspaper, Vav opens his gift and coos. “Michael! You got me a Creeper necklace?”

“You like it? It goes with mine, too.” Michael tugs at the chain hidden under his shirt, revealing a Minecraft diamond necklace.

“My lovely little boi, you put so much thought into this,” Vav coos, closing into Michael’s space. “I’m…”

“Snake, do you think Love can bloom on the battlefield!?”

Vav jumps at the loud, sudden declaration, but turns happily at the appearance of his friend, safe and sound and, fortunately, in one piece. “X-Ray!”

Michael, on the other hand, looks up to glare at X-Ray who is walking towards them with a happy German shepherd trotting beside him. “Dude, I will not hesitate to _shove a metal gear up your ass_.”

“Fair enough!” X-Ray declares, veering from his path towards them after getting the message that they were currently _busy_ having a _moment_. He mutters, “Dweebs.” And his new, _true_ best friend barks indulgently.

Pink dusts his cheekbones, and Vav laughs freely, a light sound now with the weight off his shoulders.  Michael can’t keep his anger for long in the face of such joy. He motions for the necklace and has Vav turn, allowing Michael to loop the chain around his neck, clasping it and letting it fall against his chest. Vav fiddles with it immediately and faces Michael again, biting his lip.

“Michael, I’m really sorry for what I said earlier. I was just- no, there’s no excuse. I really bollocksed it. I’m so sorry, Michael.”

“I know, Vav, I-“

“No! That was such an awful thing to say, and I shouldn’t have! I’m a right prick!”

Michael grabs him by the shoulders, hushes him. “Vav. I know. It’s okay. I’m sorry, too.”

“But- you didn’t say anything.”

“Exactly.”

“…You dope.” Vav gives him a watery smile, leaning in to press their foreheads together. “No more secrets?”

Michael relaxes against him, taking his hands to lace with his own, where they belong. “No more secrets.”

BONUS:

Vav crouches next to the dog, scratching behind her ears and laughing at her wagging tail. “I’m just astonished this bloody dog can stand to be around you! Or can stand at all, really.”

X-Ray looks severely offended. “I wasn’t going to _hurt_ a _dog_ , dude.”

“Then what the hell were you trying to do?” Michael deadpans, gesturing at the scorched streets and smoking buildings.

“Just, like, scare her so she wouldn’t bite me. I named her Maddie. ‘Cause she was really mad when we first met.”

“God fucking dammit.”

**Author's Note:**

> [insert Grand Finale by Studio Killers here]   
> [then insert Invincible by Muse here. shout out to the title, btw]  
> For more Rooster Teeth content, you can find me at birdn0ises.tumblr.com ! I'm always taking prompts and asks~


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